Kathmandu, May 18

Senior Superintendent of Police Uttam Raj Subedi at Metropolitan Police Range today said Public-Police Partnership Programme had been focusing on the control of social malpractices and criminal activities spurred by misuse of social media.

Speaking at a function organised as part of Public-Police Partnership Programme in Kathmandu, he warned that incidents of cybercrime were on the rise due to misuse of internet and social networking sites and that criminals had been capitalising on social media to commit offences. “As the modus operandi of criminals keeps changing, community support will be key to identifying and bringing to book the culprits,” he said.

According to a police report, the law enforcement agency filed 85 cases of cybercrime against 93 persons in 2018.

Cheating, blackmailing, phishing, identity theft, hacking, spreading hate and inciting violence, circulating lewd photos and videos and cyber grooming were major forms of cybercrime reported to the law enforcement agency. Around 60 per cent of the alleged victims were women and unemployed youths.

Most of the cases of cybercrime are settled through reconciliation between the concerned parties, provided they are not of serious nature.